Classifieds sites using funds to enhance user base, says report

MUMBAI: Flush with funds, investors and venture capitalists have been increasingly eying the online classifieds space, allowing portals to use these funds for promotional activities aimed at enhancing their user base, according to an industry report released here today.

Online selling of used goods increased by more than three times in the last year, while online buying of used goods doubled during the same period, even as the amount of unused goods sitting idle at homes stands at Rs 56,200 crore, a Ficci-KPMG report on media and entertainment stated.

Online classifieds portals like OLX and Quikr are frontrunners in the race to cash in on the potential of this number, the report stated.

India has the maximum number of listings on OLX and the site gets 80 per cent of its traffic from mobile phones, the report stated.

Propelled by large scale advertising by online classifieds players in the mass media in 2014, direct consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer deals are on the rise. While job and matrimony still remain the top categories, users seem to be more open to buying and selling a range of used products through online classifieds, the report stated.

"JustDial is another strong player in the horizontal classifieds space with 11.8 million listings. Yet, as the number of paid customers stands at just 2.2 per cent of the total listings, there is considerable potential for increase in revenue", the report stated.

The size of online classifieds segment stood at Rs 2,280 crore in 2014 and it is expected to grow to about Rs 5,940 crore by 2019 with a year-on-year growth of 21 per cent, the report stated.